Anti-gang violence campaigner Richard Taylor passes away at 75 succumbing to prostate cancer

RICHARD Taylor the father of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor has died aged 75 after losing a long term fight against cancer giving up the ghost at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in  Woolwich earlier today.

Mr Taylor campaigned tirelessly against gang violence in London after his 10-year-old son was murdered in Peckham on November 27 2000 as he walked home from the local library after school. Damilola, who dreamed of being a doctor, had moved to London from Nigeria a few months before he was found bleeding to death in a stairwell near his home after being stabbed in the leg with a broken beer bottle.

A statement issued on behalf of Mr Taylor's family said: "It is with a heavy heart that the family announce the death of our beloved father, grandfather and uncle, Mr Richard Adeyemi Taylor OBE, who sadly passed away in the early hours of Saturday 23 March at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, after a prolonged battle with prostate cancer."

Mr Taylor and his wife Gloria Taylor, who died aged 57 in 2008, set up the Damilola Taylor Trust in May 2001 as a memorial to his son with the aim of providing hope and opportunity to disadvantaged youngsters. Brothers Ricky and Danny Preddie were finally convicted of Damilola's manslaughter and jailed for eight years in October 2006 after three crown court trials.

In 2020, the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, agreed to designate December 7, Damilola's birthday, as an annual Day Of Hope to celebrate and encourage the work of the trust and the Hope Collective.